© 2020 by Radna Intellectual Ventures, LLC.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \n In Sweden, there’s something called the Allemansrätten, which literally translates to “Everyman’s Right.”<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Allemansrätten <\/strong>gives everyone the right to access, trespass, and camp on any land within the immediate vicinity of a residential dwelling.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Imagine a stranger strolling onto your property in the U.S. or U.K., pitching a tent on your lawn, and proclaiming “Allemansrätten!”<\/em>, as they roast marshmallows over an open fire.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n In Sweden, this is legal and they’re allowed to stay for up to 24 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Allemansrätten is a very Nordic<\/em> <\/strong>notion of the social contract and it embodies the idea of Trust <\/strong>that is at the root of Swedish culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The idea of “public” vs. “private” just doesn’t exist to some extent in Sweden, and thus it is not surprising that Sweden has been a leader in both Music Piracy<\/em> and Music Innovation<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Music Piracy<\/strong>, with the launch of Napster<\/a>, defined much of the 2000s and was catalyzed with the adoption of the MP3<\/a> technology and the launch of Apple’s iPod<\/strong> in 2001.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Source: Getty Images; Swedish DJ Avicii – the late Tim Bergling – setting precedence for the upcoming “Age of the Artist” of the 2020s.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Even with Napster’s shut down by the Recording Industry Association of America<\/strong> (RIAA<\/a>) in July 2001, the flood gates were opened and nothing could stop Music Piracy<\/em>, which proliferated in various forms including Sweden’s own Pirate Bay<\/a> and uTorrent<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n A startling statistic: CD Album Sales<\/a> topped USD 13.4 Billion in 2000 but by 2014, eroded to just 1.9 Billion, a staggering collapse of 86 percent<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The 2010s brought with it the exponential growth of Music Streaming<\/strong> through services like Apple iTunes<\/em>, Amazon Music<\/em>, and Spotify<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n However, amidst the sea of change in the Music Distribution<\/strong> industry, the underlying relationship between Artists <\/em>and Labels <\/em>remains relatively unchanged.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n This brings us to the “Age of the Artist”<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Age of the Artist<\/strong> represents a structural change<\/em> in the music industry at the “Top of the Funnel”<\/em> and will fundamentally shift the relationship between Labels and Artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n With the rapid expansion of creation<\/em>, collaboration<\/em>, production<\/em>, marketing, <\/em>and distribution<\/em> tools, the effect is a shift of bargaining power from Labels to Artists.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n So the Age of the Artist will be defined by a paradigm shift in companies establishing relationships with artists and songwriters during the creation process, setting up the stage for the new label of the future.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Spotify<\/strong> – one of the key disrupters in the $22 Billion<\/a> Recorded Music industry – agrees with this thesis which we will highlight through their Corporate Development<\/strong> strategy below.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n But before we do, let’s do a quick primer on Product Development<\/strong> and specifically the development of products whose core tech is based on Machine Learning<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n One of my first roles after graduating from Cornell University and U.C. Berkeley with degrees in Computer Science was in Product Management at a financial services firm.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Back in the early 2010s, “Data Science”<\/strong> and “AI \/ ML”<\/strong> were still relatively new words in the financial industry, yet our group leverage “Big Data”<\/strong> and utilized Machine Learning algorithms to estimate movements in certain financial markets with remarkable precision.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The idea of an “AI Product Manager”<\/strong> simply didn’t exist back then, yet that was what our group was doing on a daily basis, which allowed us to generate record profits among our competitors in the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Fast forward a decade and the idea of AI Product Management<\/strong> or APM<\/strong> is a clearly defined role in Tech, with the largest tech companies like Amazon<\/em>, Facebook<\/em>, and Google <\/em>even having dedicated APM teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Source: Radna Intellectual Ventures; Traditional Product Development using Wireframes.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n What is the role of an <\/em>AI Product Manager<\/em><\/strong>?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The AI Product Manager is principally responsible for using AI, Deep Learning, and Machine Learning to enhance, improve, create, and shape products.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Artificial Intelligence<\/strong> has far-reaching implications for every conceivable industry according to a seminal report <\/a>by McKinsey and Company<\/em>, which identified over 400 business use cases of AI<\/strong> for companies today.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Another recent survey of global business leaders and corporate CEOs indicated that over 70% have started AI initiatives<\/strong>. With the proliferation of AI into business (e.g., Google Search<\/em>, Amazon Product Recommendations<\/em>, Tesla Autopilot<\/em>), Machine Learning<\/strong> is the common thread among all these novel products.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Andrew Ng<\/a> – a Stanford Professor and one of the leading authorities in Machine Learning – developed the concept of the “Virtuous Cycle of AI”<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>– an idea central to the development of Machine Learning products.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Source: Andrew Ng; Landing AI’s Playbook featuring the Virtuous Cycle of AI.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Andrew’s insight that “building a better AI product requires more users producing more data”<\/em> has profound implications for the Product Development Life Cycle.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Why does this matter?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Well, products fueled by data and machine learning can be remarkably powerful tools to discover and solve customer problems<\/strong>, enabling a company to strengthen its business moat<\/strong> amidst an increasingly competitive environment with lower barriers of entry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n As the diagram below shows, Product Development<\/strong> can be broken into four components, which you can read more about in this Harvard Business Review<\/em> article<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Source: Radna Intellectual Ventures; Product Development in the Age of Machine Learning.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n From the perspective of AI \/ ML <\/strong>products, here is what these four components really mean.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Given the above, another valuable insight from Andrew Ng is that “Training Sets are the new Wireframes in product management”<\/em><\/strong> – a deep observation which you can read more about in Why AI is the New Electricity<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n With an understanding of Product Development in the Age of Machine Learning<\/em>, let’s exercise our knowledge through a Case Study <\/strong>for one of the most remarkable Machine Learning companies that exist today: Spotify<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Source: Getty Images; Spotify’s Founder and CEO, Daniel Ek.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n I’d argue Spotify’s history is much more remarkable than Facebook’s story.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, largely as a function of its Swedish <\/strong>origin, Spotify has been less glamorized than Facebook<\/strong>, as epitomized in the popular American film “The Social Network”<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n What were the humble beginnings of Spotify?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n It began in the mind of a music-loving young teenager and prodigy, Daniel Ek<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n By the age of nine, Daniel taught himself how to code C++<\/a> – one of the more challenging programming languages to master<\/em> – and wrote 40 pages of code, constructing a cursor to move around the screen.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Daniel continued to hone his coding skills and by age 14 in 1997, Daniel started building websites for other Swedish entrepreneurs, charging a rate of SEK 10,000 per website.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
The Age of the Artist<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Product Development in the Age of Machine Learning<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Case Study: Spotify<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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